COLLEGE FOOTBALL / DAILY REPORT : USC : Final Word on Starting Tailback Is Due

Coach Larry Smith said he would wait until tonight to name his starting tailback for Saturday’s game against Notre Dame at South Bend, Ind. But Mazio Royster, heretofore the Trojans’ No. 1 tailback, said he had been told in a Monday meeting with Smith and assistant coach Wayne Nunnely that Deon Strother would start this week.

Smith later denied that a decision had been reached.

Royster ran for 25 yards in eight carries during Saturday’s 24-21 loss to Stanford, the fewest carries he has had in 14 games as a starter. He carried once in the second half before giving way to Strother, who ran for 45 yards and two touchdowns in 11 carries.

Royster is USC’s leading rusher with 446 yards and six touchdowns in 96 carries. Strother has carried 71 times for 318 yards and four touchdowns.

USC’s No. 3 tailback, Estrus Crayton, did not make the trip with the Trojans Thursday. He injured an arm and his face on Monday night when he fell off his bicycle while riding home from practice.

Trojan Coach Larry Smith is an admirer of Notre Dame fullback Jerome Bettis, who will lead the Irish against USC Saturday at South Bend, Ind.

“He may be the best fullback I’ve ever gone against,” Smith said of the 5-foot-11, 247-pound sophomore from Detroit who has averaged 6.5 yards a carry and is Notre Dame’s leading rusher with 616 yards and nine touchdowns. “He’s a great, great player. To have any chance to beat Notre Dame, you’ve got to work very hard to stop him.”

Ron Dale leads the Pacific 10 Conference with an average of 41.8 yards a punt, the best average for a Trojan since 1953, when Des Koch averaged a school-record 44.6.

Dale, a senior, averaged 47.1 yards in seven punts Saturday during the 24-21 loss to Stanford, earning recognition as the Pac-10’s special teams player of the week.

For USC’s Kurt Barber, a senior outside linebacker from Paducah, Ky., the Notre Dame game is more important than the UCLA game.

“I think where I’m from has something to do with it,” said Barber, who was recruited by the Irish. “Also, this is tradition. This is college football--Notre Dame and USC. UCLA is just a cross-town rivalry. It’s got a lot of tradition, too, but with Notre Dame and USC, you’re talking about one of the greatest rivalries in college football.”